


The Art of Charming Muggles

by MeganRachel09



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, F/M, Seventh year, jily, maruaders era, meet the parents, this is pure fluff with not a whole lot of plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26475013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganRachel09/pseuds/MeganRachel09
Summary: Lily would be lying if she claimed to have forgotten to tell her parents about her boyfriend or his impending visit. Really, she was just too nervous at the thought of introducing a boy to her parents for the first time. She should have known James Potter would have no trouble charming his way into her parents' good graces. He fit perfectly in every aspect of her life; why should this be any different? Pure Fluff.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 16
Kudos: 139





	The Art of Charming Muggles

The antique grandfather clock – just about the only item of any significant value in the Evans house – chimed three o'clock in the afternoon. With something of a determined expression on her face, Lily sighed and stood up from her writing desk, skirting the trunk set in the center of the room, and headed out of her bedroom to search out her parents.

She was not altogether surprised to find them downstairs in the living room, her father in his favourite stuffed blue rocking chair, his nose buried in the morning's newspaper and her mother intently watching _Happy Ever After_ on the television against the far wall while pretending to read a book on the couch.

"Mum, Dad?" Lily waited, hands clasped in front of her, until they both looked up at her. Her father laid the paper down in his lap and her mother looked away from the television with a distracted smile.

"Yes, darling?"

"Well, I was wondering if… I know that Christmas holidays are usually all about being together as a family, but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind terribly if I invited over a friend from school. Just for a little visit." She bit her lip when her parents glanced at each other. Her father shrugged and her mother beamed at her.

"Of course not, darling," she said warmly. "We would love to meet your friends."

"Yes, just let us know when you'll be having guests so we can prepare for them," her father said.

"Oh, right. Thank you." Lily waited until her parents had returned to their previous hobbies, then dropped her hands to her sides and tilted her head back in agony. "See, the thing is," she said once she had mostly composed herself, "I may have forgotten to mention to you that I already invited someone over."

Her parents shared another look before her mother leveled the 'mum' eyes on her. "When are they coming?"

"Er – in about an hour? We agreed on four o'clock," Lily said.

"And when did this conversation take place?" Her mother asked.

"On the train home," Lily admitted with a pitiful pleading look.

"A week ago?"

"Yes, Mum. I'm sorry."

"Ah, well, all's fine," her father said easily, leaning forward to lay a hand on his wife's knee. "You were already planning on making that corned beef with cabbage dish you make so well, weren't you, dear?"

"Yes," her mother said. "I do hope there's enough."

"Does your friend have a large appetite, Lily?" Her father asked. "I hope she likes corned beef. Do you know?"

"Er." Lily looked away from her father's innocent expression and grimaced, steeling herself to ruin his optimism. "I'm sure corned beef will be fine. I've never actually seen James turn his nose up at anything."

"James? Who's James?" her father demanded immediately, looking accusingly at his wife.

"A boy, clearly, I don't know," her mother said, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, James is a boy," Lily said.

"Is he a special boy?" Mr. Evans questioned.

"Well," Lily said lightly, "he certainly thinks so."

"Is he special _to_ _you_ , Lily?" Mr. Evans clarified, giving his daughter his no-nonsense look.

Lily's smile was soft and slow and very fond. She nodded. "Yes, he is."

When she managed to look up from her bare toes on the beige carpet, Lily found her parents in the middle of what looked to be a silent conversation. She watched them for a moment – all locked gazes and twitching lips and barely moving eyebrows – and saw, for a moment, herself and James silently debating the best way to get a derailed Prefects' meeting back on track, or wordlessly making fun of Sirius any time he claimed to be uninterested in all things romantic while simultaneously tracking Marlene's every movement with his eyes. Blinking, she focused back on her parents as her father sighed and shrugged.

"Well, we knew this would happen eventually." He set his paper to the side and made to stand.

Lily frowned. "What?"

"You're seventeen, you go to boarding school in a world that's completely different to ours," her mother said, also standing. "We've been waiting for you to come home with a boy on your arm."

"You could have given us more warning, though," her father said as he began to sweep from the room.

"I'm sorry," Lily said, terribly confused. "Wait, where are you going?"

"We've got to start on dinner," her mother explained, patting Lily's shoulder as she moved past her. "You never did answer, but I'm assuming James has a rather larger appetite than you?"

"Well, yes. He is very active, after all," Lily said with a bemused smile. "Captain of our House Quidditch team, actually."

Her mother paused a moment, a terrified look on her face before she rushed out of the room and into the kitchen.

"Dear, he's an athlete!" Lily heard her mother call out "We'll need more than corned beef!"

Her father swore from the kitchen, then shouted, "We've got loads of potatoes! You could whip up some colcannon to go with it!"

Eyebrows furrowed, completely taken aback, Lily followed her parents into the kitchen. Her father had his head in the cupboard while her mother was pulling out pots and pans.

"But we've got potatoes, cabbage, and carrots with the corned beef," her mother worried aloud. "Do we really need a second potato dish?"

"Does the boy have something against potatoes?" her father said, surfacing from the cupboard with a large sack of potatoes in hands to see Lily standing there watching in confusion. He lifted an eyebrow. "Well?"

"Oh." Lily cleared her throat and shook her head. "No, James likes potatoes as much as the next person. But I don't think you really need to make a side dish. He's really very easy to please."

"We can't just serve the boy corned beef! It would be rude," her mother insisted. "He's a teenaged boy with an appetite. And he's an athlete!"

"But…" Lily trailed off when her father began scrubbing the potatoes anyway. She sighed. "Colcannon will be great."

"What about dessert, dear?" her father asked.

Lily decided to take her leave when her mother swore loudly. Still reeling a bit at their unexpected reaction – she had thought they would be upset to learn about James, not frantic to feed him – she made her way up the stairs. When the door at the top of the stairs opened and Petunia stuck her long neck round the door, blond hair in curlers, Lily paused.

Petunia's blue eyes went a bit cool when they found Lily, but she still spoke to her, which Lily took as a victory. "What's all the commotion about downstairs?"

"We've got a dinner guest coming tonight," Lily said with a small shrug. "My boyfriend, James. Mum and Dad have decided to add colcannon to the menu."

"In that case, I'm glad I've got a date with Vernon tonight," Petunia said with a haughty little sniff.

Lily frowned. "But you love colcannon."

"I meant not having to sit through a meal with _another_ freak," Petunia said, nose upturned as she retreated back into her room and snapped the door shut in Lily's face.

Pursing her lips, annoyed and unwilling to let it consume her, Lily took a deep breath through her nose and walked down the hall to her own bedroom. She had about forty-five minutes before James was due to arrive and nothing really to do; she figured she may as well change out of her loungewear and fix her hair.

She started to plug in her mother's curling iron when she saw her wand lying on her bedside table. She reached over to pick it up then, after a moment's deliberation, abandoned the Muggle method and reached for the book of beauty charms her friend Mary had gifted her for Christmas.

After several minutes of flipping though the pages, Lily found a spell she felt confident enough to attempt in front of her vanity mirror. The result was quite pretty, she thought, with her auburn hair falling in loose waves around her shoulders. She would have to remember to thank Mary properly for the gift.

A movement outside her window distracted her from admiring her wandwork. She looked up, startled to see a tall boy with long, long legs and messy black hair walking down the street toward her house – it couldn't be four already. She checked her watch and grinned when she saw that he was early – only by seven minutes, but James Potter was never seven minutes early to anything that wasn't Quidditch related.

She ran down the stairs, past the kitchen where she ignored her parents' startled questions, and out the front door. He was in front of her neighbour's house when she flew off the porch steps and into her own snow-covered garden. The wide grin that split his face when he looked up to find her running toward him made her laugh giddily.

He caught her effortlessly when she launched herself at him, his arms wrapping around her waist and holding her to him. He kissed her hair, her temple, her cheek, the tip of her nose, and finally her lips, and was smiling when he pulled back to look at her, eyes soft and twinkling like they always did whenever he was feeling particularly fond of her which was very often.

"Merlin, I missed you, Evans," he breathed, then kissed her again briefly.

"I missed you, too," she told him, burying her face in his neck as he held her, feet dangling off the ground.

"I can see that," he said, and the teasing note in his voice was so familiar and had been so missed that she couldn't even think of what he could be teasing her about. "In such a rush to kiss me you forgot shoes?"

She frowned, then quite suddenly became aware of her freezing toes. She had changed out of her loungewear into a nice pair of jeans and a deep violet jumper and apparently, in all the excitement of testing beauty charms and reuniting with her boyfriend, had forgotten to slip on her boots by the front door. Maybe later – when they were back at school and James undoubtedly told all of their friends about this – she would be embarrassed, but this evening she was too happy to see him.

"Cold!" She yelped and tried to climb him.

James laughed loudly, then hooked one arm behind her knees and shifted his other up her back so that he was cradling her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her face up to his. Holding her as if she weighed no more than his prized broomstick, he brought his lips down on hers again in a much longer kiss that felt to Lily like a serious effort to make up for a week apart. When he pulled away and straightened up, she buried her face in his warm, thick coat collar.

"Hey, Evans, those folks who've been watching us snog wouldn't happen to be your parents, would they?" James asked conversationally as he began carrying her back to her house.

Lily lifted her face from his neck and turned her head to find her parents standing on the front porch watching them approach. They were speaking quietly to each other and Lily had no idea what they might be saying, whether they were upset or not. She brought her mouth close to James's ear and spoke quietly, her breath undoubtedly tickling him. "Yes, those are my parents, so be on your best behavior from now on."

"You want me to behave, you stop that right now before it's a lost cause." She could hear the smile in his voice, but also the legitimate warning.

They had a tough enough time keeping their hands to themselves at school where they saw each other every day and had ample amounts of time to themselves. After a week apart it would be very difficult to keep their interactions parent-friendly. Lily chuckled in his ear, had the satisfaction of feeling his arms tense under her, and obliged by moving her mouth away from his ear to rest her forehead against his neck as he began to climb the steps to the front porch.

Her parents had stopped chatting by then and were smiling at them. Lily recognized their show smiles – they weren't sure what to think of or how to act around the boy they had just watched kiss their daughter as if they had been apart for months instead of days, the only boy she had ever brought home, the boy who had lifted her into his arms so naturally it seemed he must have always had his hands on her, but didn't want to appear rude to him. Lily locked eyes with her father and watched his eyebrows lift almost imperceptibly.

"I forgot to put on boots." She lifted one foot to wiggle her bare toes at her parents in explanation. "So James, being the gentleman that he is, gave me a lift."

James was grinning at her explanation. She couldn't see it, but she knew it was there when her mother visibly – to her eyes, anyway, if not to James's – melted a bit. Even when Lily hadn't particularly liked James less than two years ago, the sight of that grin, the pure, unadulterated joy it brought to his face, had done things to her.

"Mr. and Mrs. Evans, lovely to meet you," James said and Lily had to fight the urge to turn her head so she could kiss that now _audible_ grin right off his handsome face. She settled instead for tightening her arms around his neck and titling her head so that her mouth was once more buried in his coat collar, almost as if she were kissing his neck. "I would shake your hands," he continued as if he weren't at all affected, but Lily felt his grip on her tighten, "but I might drop your daughter if I did, and I don't think we want that."

"It's nice to meet you, James." Her father stepped aside and gestured for James to go inside.

Once everyone was inside, Lily's parents and James stood in the crowded foyer for an awkward moment. Suddenly uncomfortable, Lily leapt out of his arms and landed on her feet smoothly.

Her parents looked for a moment at Lily, who stood very close to James with his arm now around her waist. Lily looked quickly at James, who met her gaze and then grinned broadly at her parents.

"Thanks so much for having me over," he said as he gripped her father's hand in a firm handshake.

"Of course!" her mother said. "Any friend of Lily's is welcome any time!"

James looked at Lily, one eyebrow arching up at the word ' _friend_.' She rolled her eyes quickly – her parents just didn't want to say the word _boyfriend_ – and his lips twitched up at the corners. When she looked at her parents, she found them watching her and James with puzzled, if a bit surprised, expressions on their faces and realized that she and James had just been caught having a silent conversation the likes of which she caught her parents having earlier.

"Well, let's move this to the living room, shall we?" Mrs. Evans suggested and began herding everyone out of the foyer.

Mr. Evans bypassed his favoured chair and took a seat on the far end of the couch, and Mrs. Evans sat on the near end.

Lily sat against the arm of the loveseat opposite the couch and James settled himself right next to her, throwing his arm warmly over her shoulders as if they were lounging in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room with their friends instead of visiting with her parents. She caught her father's narrow-eyed gaze on them and considered for a moment signaling for James to give her some space, but thought better of it. Not only would James get his feelings hurt – try as he might to hide it – but she would be lying if she said she hadn't missed sitting like this the past week; their relationship was an incredibly affectionate one and her parents either could deal with it or not. She met her father's gaze, pulled her feet up under her, and leaned into James's side. She wasn't going to pretend their relationship was something it wasn't just for his peace of mind.

"So," her mother said, nudging her husband to stop his glaring. "James, Lily tells us you play Quidditch."

"Yes, ma'am. Brilliant sport. Do you know much about it?" James asked and Lily knew he was eager to launch into details about his favourite pastime – well, maybe his second favourite pastime now that Lily let him kiss her and more just about whenever he wanted.

"I'm afraid not. I haven't really got a good head for sports," her mother said. "But we know there are three balls."

"The Quaffle, Bludger, and Snitch," her father supplied.

"Yes, that's right! There are two Bludgers, though," James said gently as if he were correcting a timid first year's Transfiguration essay.

"Those are the violent ones, right?" her father asked.

"Yes! They try to knock you right off your broom. Had my arm broken in three places by one earlier in the year, right Lily?"

"I think it was four," she said, smiling when her mother gasped in abject horror. "Not to worry, Mum. Madam Pomfrey is a miracle worker and had him back in order by dinner."

"I'm a Chaser," James said to her father in response to a question she missed. "I only handle the Quaffle directly, trying to get it in the other team's goals and score points, but the Beaters are always hitting the Bludgers after the other team's Chasers to knock the Quaffle loose or get the Chasers off track or even sometimes to knock a Chaser off their broom."

"Have you ever been knocked off your broom?" Mr. Evans asked.

"Not since my first game back in second year." James laughed and shook his head, glancing over at Lily. "Do you remember that?"

"Yes, you landed yourself an extended stay in the Hospital Wing," Lily said, closing her eyes and sighing as if recalling a particularly pleasant memory. "Such a peaceful few days."

"Rude," he said on a chuckle.

"Really, though. Sirius skived off all of his lessons to sit with you in the Hospital Wing the entire time and Remus and Peter, with neither of you to distract them, actually sat and took notes all day. I have never experienced such peaceful lessons at Hogwarts," Lily insisted.

"Sounds boring to me," James said, smiling when Lily rolled her eyes at him. He turned his attention back to her parents. "After spending three days in the Hospital Wing, I decided to avoid getting knocked off my broom as best I could."

"Quite right," Mrs. Evans said just as the timer went off in the kitchen. "Oh, my timer! I'll be right back. Come help me, dear."

She stood and pulled her husband to his feet, leading him toward the door, where they paused to look back at Lily and James, who seemed not at all affected to find themselves suddenly alone.

"Come on, I'll show you around," Lily said to James as they both stood. "I know you're really curious about all these Muggle objects."

James grabbed Lily's hand and used it to pull her close to him as they toured the living room.

"Bit of a… hands-on fellow, isn't he?" Mr. Evans muttered to his wife as they watched their daughter lead James around the living room, pausing to explain whenever he seemed particularly interested in something: the lamp, for one; the blank screen of the television; the photos on the wall that he prodded curiously.

"He doesn't seem to be the only one," Mrs. Evans quipped when Lily laughed and slid her arm around his waist to tug him away from the digital clock. "Come, let's leave them be."

He hesitated when his wife laid a hand on his arm. "You think we should?"

Mrs. Evans looked at him with a fond smile and shook her head. "I think they probably get much more privacy up at school. A few minutes alone here won't change a thing."

"You _know_ Muggle photos don't move, James!" Lily laughed and took his wand out of his hand when he pretended to consider trying to make them move. "I also know you've seen Muggle photos before; I've seen Sirius's collection of pin-up models, so there's no way you haven't."

" _You_ know that stealing a wizard's wand is serious business, Lily!" James mocked her, but made no move to take his wand back.

Until just a couple weeks ago, Lily hadn't understood it, having never seen a wand or known much about them until she was eleven, but she had been told by a few of her friends that it was a big deal, a big show of trust for someone to allow another to use their wand.

She hadn't thought anything of it the first time she had reached for James's wand because hers was stowed away in her bag at her feet. She had cast a spell – something mundane: a warming charm, probably – and handed it back to him as if it were nothing. To her, it had been nothing. But she had noticed the wide eyes of those around them afterwards and the depth of passion in James's.

A few days later, he had used her wand to clean up a spill at the breakfast table for no reason, he had said, other than because he wanted to. His wand was sitting right next to him on the table. Several people had gasped as if they'd just been privy to some lascivious act and James had smirked and given her wand back.

When she asked him about it later when they were alone in his dormitory, the curtains drawn around his four-poster, he had kissed her.

"It's a big deal," he had said quietly.

"Yeah, I get that. But _why_?" She had rolled her eyes, but hadn't been annoyed enough by his evasiveness to reject him when he had clasped her hand in his and brought their joined hands to rest on his bare chest.

"You got your wand at Ollivander's, right?" he had asked and shrugged when she nodded. "Did he say something along the lines of _the wand chooses the wizard_ when you went in?"

"Witch. He said witch."

Smiling fondly, James had rolled his eyes at the correction. "Okay. Witch. Well, he wasn't just being an eccentric old man, even though he is that. The wand literally chooses the wizard. Or witch. It's sort of a sentient thing. A wand has a conscience. It has loyalty. It's loyal to its owner. Most wands don't work properly for someone if their loyalty is to someone else."

"How do you get a wand's loyalty?" she had asked.

"You win it. In a duel." He had said it so simply, so matter-of-factly. "Or it chooses you."

"But your wand worked fine for me. And mine for you."

"Sometimes… if the relationship between two people is strong enough… that could come through. The wand could, essentially, choose to have two masters."

"Oh." She had said. And then, " _Oh._ "

They had looked at each other.

"It's a big deal," he had repeated.

And then he had stroked his fingers through her hair softly and she understood. It was so simple, really. He loved her. She loved him. It wasn't some silly, fleeting first love. It was _real_ and their wands sensed it and shared their loyalties.

Standing in her parents' living room, Lily twirled James's wand between her fingers. He smiled at her, remembering the same conversation as she. She knew now that he liked it when she used his wand, and that he liked using hers as well. He reveled in the fact that both of their wands worked the same for each of them. It was a sort of confirmation for him that she was really with him long term. She would be lying if she said she didn't like it as well.

Still, having no use for his wand at the moment, she handed it over and watched him pocket it.

"I'm assuming Muggle houses have bedrooms, or are they all just living areas and kitchens?" he asked, desire winking in his hazel eyes.

Her parents hadn't said anything to her about James only being allowed downstairs – they hadn't had a chance – but she knew they wouldn't approve of him being up in her room. Lily narrowed her eyes at him, looked over her shoulder, and listened to make sure her parents weren't coming to check on them any time soon. She took his hand and shot him a grin she had picked up from him. It said _Rules? What rules?_

She didn't have to tell him to tread lightly or to skip the fourth step from the top as she led him up the stairs – the boy was a natural at sneaking around and was obviously watching where she placed her feet because she didn't hear a sound behind her on any of the creakier steps.

She rushed him past Petunia's bedroom and into hers, shutting the door stealthily behind them. She expected his hands on her instantly when the door closed but when she turned to him he was surveying her room with great interest. Her nerves surprised her until she realized that this was the first time he had ever been in her room; she had been in his dormitory countless times since they had started dating, but the spell keeping boys out of the girls' dormitories was just about the only school 'rule' he and his friends had yet to get around.

"Is it all that you dreamed of?" She leaned back against the door and watched him walk the perimeter of the room.

"Well, you're not naked on the bed, so no." He flashed her a grin and then stopped in front of her vanity to pick up her wand. He turned to her with a frown and one arched brow. "You left the house without your wand?"

She bit her lip and ducked her head, knowing he was right to be troubled. It wasn't safe for her to be unarmed in this day and age, especially not outside of her house. Hell, she probably shouldn't put her wand down when she was inside, either, since there was no protective enchantment around her parents' house to keep out unwanted visitors. The lack of protection for her parents when she wasn't around was something that bothered her more each day.

He was still frowning at her when she lifted her gaze to him, so she shrugged. "I forgot."

"You forgot your wand," he repeated blankly.

"In my haste to get my hands and mouth on you? Yes. Or have you forgotten my enthusiastic welcome? Here, let me remind you."

She launched off the door and jumped into his arms, kissing him soundly. James laughed and wrapped his arms around her, one hand sliding to her bum and the other pressing into her lower back when she twined her legs around his waist.

"Nice diversion." He smirked at her, then sighed and shook his head. "Look, I know you don't need a lecture on safety – especially not from me – but _please_ don't leave your wand behind again. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you."

"I won't." The tips of their noses brushed and she felt his dubious frown on her lips, saw it in his furrowed brow. " _I won't_. I sometimes get a bit complacent when I'm home, that's all. But I promise I won't leave the house without it again."

He wasn't satisfied by that, she knew, would only be satisfied if she never had her wand out of arm's reach. He never left his wand out of sight and Lily had a tendency to stow hers away in her bag when she didn't know she would need it. It was an argument they had had before and she knew he had the right of it given the war they would be joining as soon as they left school. It was just that she didn't like to worry her parents and if they saw her constantly carrying her wand around, they would be suspicious.

To appease him, she reached behind her and took her wand out of his hand on her lower back. She shoved her wand under the elastic hair band on her wrist and pulled her jumper sleeve down over it. It wasn't the most secure spot for it, but it would suffice until she could find a more suitable place to stow it since her pockets were not as roomy as his. "Better?"

"Much," he said, and then his mouth was hungry on hers. The hand on her bum squeezed and Lily laughed, ripping her mouth from his in the process.

He took the opportunity to lie her down on her bed and cover her body with his. His mouth ravished her neck and one of his hands slid under her jumper while the other slid up her thigh. Alarm bells rang in her mind, but it still took her a few seconds to push him away.

"We can't." She frowned when he tried to lean in and kiss her again, putting a hand against his face to keep him at bay. "I mean it. I want to, but _we can't_. I need my parents to like you and if they think we've shagged in my bedroom while they're downstairs making dinner, they'll hate you."

"You're right. I know." He let his head hang, neck arched dramatically, so that his forehead rested against her shoulder. His lips brushed the side of her neck when he whispered, "I just missed you so much."

Lily shivered and brought a hand up to comb through his messy hair, the other arm wrapping around his back to hug him. Her legs spread open a bit wider, forming a more secure cradle for his hips to drop into. He groaned his desire and she felt the insistent evidence of how badly he wanted her. She smiled. "I love you."

"Love you, too." He rolled off of her to lie next to her, and pulled her into his side.

She gave him – and herself – a minute to enjoy a good cuddle and then struggled against his hold to sit up. "We should go back downstairs. Or at least open the door."

James let her go with a slight frown and sat up when she swung to her feet over the edge of the bed. "Is it strange for me to say that I can't wait to go back to school?"

"No. Let's not pretend that you haven't always loved school." Lily smirked at him over her shoulder. "And I know it's not just the freedom and the boys. You genuinely love classes, mister Transfiguration prodigy."

"Not so loud!" He winked at her. "You'll damage my reputation."

Lily's hand had just closed around the doorknob when she heard her mother call her name. She looked, wide-eyed, at James. "Shit."

He stood leisurely from the bed even as Lily threw the door open and rushed to the top of the stairs where she saw her mother halfway up the stairs looking up at her with pursed lips and one arched brow.

"Come introduce James to your sister before she leaves," Mrs. Evans said curtly and turned on her heel to head back downstairs.

Disappointed in herself for already having screwed up her parents' perception of James, Lily looked over her shoulder intending to have to call out for him, only to find him standing right behind her. She jolted, forced a smile for him, and turned to lead him away.

"Hey, it's okay." He laid a hand on her shoulder as he followed her. "We can fix this."

She didn't see what he could possibly do or say to convince her parents that they hadn't gone upstairs to fool around. They had, after all, gone upstairs to snog a bit even if James had gotten sidetracked at first. She supposed it could have been worse, though. It could have been her father that came up the stairs to get her. Her parents could have burst into her bedroom. She and James could have been doing much more than kissing on her bed when her parents burst in.

After allowing herself to worry over her parents' reaction for the maybe thirty seconds it took to walk down the stairs, Lily rolled her eyes at herself. So what if her parents thought she had taken James upstairs to have a shag? She and James were adults, and her parents could get over their preoccupation with the state of her nonexistent virginity.

On the landing, Lily turned to plant a kiss on James's cheek and allowed him to slip his hand into hers. "We didn't do anything wrong." She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Now come meet my dreadful sister."

Petunia was standing near the front door, one hand on the knob, glaring at Lily when she and James rounded the corner. "Mum and Dad said I couldn't leave without meeting him."

"How dare they expect you to be polite!" Lily rolled her eyes.

Petunia ignored her sister, her blue eyes sweeping past her to settle on James. Lily watched her face, reading her reaction: the pinched mouth was likely in response to his messy hair; the narrowed, roving gaze a quick take on his exceptional height. She liked to think that the fleeting, almost indiscernible widening of the eyes before Petunia settled a disapproving glare on her features was a moment of awe at his defined jaw, handsome face, and – Lily glanced back at him to see his trademark easygoing grin – friendliest smile.

"Nice to meet you, Petunia," James said loudly as if she had actually bothered to introduce herself. He brushed past Lily, giving her hand a quick squeeze before releasing to offer her sister a handshake. "I'm James Potter."

"Pleasure." Her voice was cold and stiff and the downward turn of her mouth did nothing to hide her distinct _displeasure_ , and she backed away from him.

When Petunia didn't accept his handshake, James let his hand drop to his side casually as if nothing had transpired. He took a step back, noting the way that Petunia was all but flat against the door.

"I've met him, Mum," Petunia announced. "Now I'm leaving. I'll be back late. Don't wait up."

Without another word, Petunia opened the door and fled. James turned to Lily, eyebrows raised, and then his gaze flicked past her and he smiled. "Must be a sister thing. Lily used to hate me too."

Lily rolled her eyes, but looked over to find her parents standing behind her in the kitchen doorway. She moved closer to swat at him playfully. "I did not. I just thought you were a prat."

"Well, I'm a prat who's going to help you do some extra-curricular research tonight, aren't I?" James retorted, flashing a book she hadn't noticed him carrying.

She read the title quickly. _Charms of Defence and Deterrence_. Despite her confusion, she nodded.

"We were talking just a few moments ago about which protective charms would work best on a Muggle household, so we just went to get this textbook from her room," James explained, seeing the curious expressions on her parents' faces.

For a moment, she was speechless. Was the boy a _Legilimens_ or something? She wouldn't put it past him; he and his too-smart-for-their-own-good best friends had managed the extremely difficult and very illegal Animagus transformation back in fifth year. He could probably manage _Legilimency_. But no, she realized it wasn't much of a surprise that he would use this time to work on coming up with a way to ensure her safety when they were apart, to ease his mind a bit now that he knew she was likely to walk around unarmed even here.

"Protective charms?" Her father said, his narrowed gaze flicking between James's _innocent_ face and the book in his hand. Her mother cocked her head in wonder as well. "Why would we need protective charms?"

James looked at Lily, silently questioning whether or not she had told her parents anything about the social climate in the wizarding world. She hadn't. He shrugged, shaking his head in a bemused sort of way.

"Why wouldn't you?" He looked genuinely confused and Lily found herself thankful that his years of troublemaking had given him the ability to convincingly talk his way out of just about any situation. "All magical families have protective charms over their homes. It's just an additional precaution."

"It's a bit like investing in a really good lock, Dad," Lily added. "Except free. And more effective."

"Besides," James added brightly, "it's good practice for us, learning how to protect a home. It will come in handy when we've got our own place."

Her parents' eyes widened and Lily froze. When her father scowled at James, Lily turned to look at him and saw that he looked perfectly complacent, like he was aware of what he had implied and had done so intentionally. He smiled at her and Lily leveled her most intimidating glare on him, but her stupid courageous boyfriend was not easily intimidated, not even by her.

They had only talked about moving in together once, and it hadn't been a particularly long or detailed conversation. Rather, they had been lying in his bed one lazy afternoon, laughing about something or other with the rest of the boys, when Sirius had dropped the emotional equivalent of a nuclear bomb on James.

"Keep on like that and I won't invite you to my place over Christmas," he had warned them all as they laughed at his expense.

"My parents' place," James had corrected him distractedly as he took the opportunity to slide his hand under Lily's shirt while she was busy laughing.

"Actually, I've been sneaking out to Muggle London on Hogsmeade weekends to look at flats and I've found one I really like and so I rented it." He had said it casually, like it wasn't a big deal.

James's hand had frozen – his whole body had – and Lily would have sworn his heart had stopped for a moment. When the room went completely silent, it became clear to her that Sirius getting his own place was a _very big deal_. At least, judging by the concerned looks Remus and Peter were shooting James, Sirius not telling James that he was getting his own place was a big deal. The two were practically inseparable and she had to admit it was difficult for her to think of a time Sirius had kept something important from James before.

"You just… got a flat?" Peter had said slowly. "Just like that? Just went out and got a flat?"

"No, I _just said_ that I've been going out and looking every time we've been to Hogsmeade this year." She couldn't see him over the mess of James's hair, but she had practically heard him rolling his eyes.

"But did you at least tell anyone you were leaving Hogsmeade?" Remus had asked. "Or that you were looking into getting your own place?"

"No." Sirius had said, and Remus and Peter had continued questioning him, growing more and more frustrated with his simple answers as time went on. Before long, they had all three been practically shouting at one another.

The three of them had never complained about her inclusion in their group, had never moaned about her always being around, at least to her knowledge. They had never treated her like an unwanted, unnecessary fifth wheel and had acted from the day she and James had gotten together as though it was always meant to be the five of them – and maybe it was – but she had still felt as though this particular conversation wasn't for her to participate in, so she had simply lain there next to James, his hand frozen on her ribcage, and waited for him to come round.

"Come on, Prongs. Don't act like that." Sirius had rolled his eyes and chucked his pillow at them. "I'll still be over at your place all the time. You know I can't feed myself and your mum and dad would worry incessantly if I tried."

But it wasn't about his mum and dad, Lily had realized. It was about James feeling like his best friend was abandoning him, like his brother was up and leaving without a backward glance. The two of them, from the very first moment they had met on the Hogwarts Express, had been practically co-dependent. James had three best friends, but if he had to choose only one, it was no secret to anyone who he would pick.

"Besides," Sirius had said loudly, sounding as close to desperate as Lily had ever heard him, "you'll be getting a place with Red, yeah? When we're out? You'll be moving in with her, and then we'll all stop in at your parents' together and, honestly, it'll be more like we've got three homes between us. My place, your place, and your parents' place."

He had said it so matter-of-factly, like he and James had discussed it, like he _knew_ that James and Lily were going to move in together after school. But James had grown even stiffer beside her and Lily knew that it was his first time hearing about _that_ part of the plan as well. He had slowly turned his head to look at her, and she had seen the moment that it dawned on him that that was actually exactly what he wanted.

His eyes had turned to molten caramel and he had kissed her sweetly but not quickly, and whispered, "What do you think?"

"I think…" She had paused for a moment, kissed him again to buy some time. "I think it sounds like Sirius has our lives all planned out for us."

"Yeah?" James had said quietly, and it was more a question of her approval of Sirius's plan than anything else, she knew.

"Yeah," she had said.

James had smiled at her, and then threw Sirius's pillow back across the room, whacking him in the face none-too-gently with it. "Sneak out of Hogsmeade without telling any of us again, and I'll write you up, idiot."

That was almost a month ago and they hadn't discussed it since, so Lily hadn't realized that James seemed to have been actually planning for that future. She wasn't surprised, exactly, but she wasn't sure why on earth he had decided to announce his plans to her parents the first time he met them.

"You're not going to… set the house on fire, will you?" Her mother asked after a moment and Lily was both grateful to her for attempting to break the tension and humiliated.

"No, Mum!" she exclaimed, and knew instantly by the sudden increase in temperature that her face was blazing. "It was once, and I was twelve, and I fixed it, didn't I?"

"Actually, that Ministry fellow fixed it for you and threatened to expel you if you didn't stop doing magic away from school," her father said.

"I have to hear this story," James practically shouted, rocking forward on the balls of his feet.

"I'll tell you later," Lily said immediately, relief coursing through her when a timer started beeping in the kitchen.

"Oh, that's the potatoes!" her mother said.

"We're going to start looking through this," Lily said, taking the textbook from James and holding it up.

Her father watched them as Lily led James by the hand back into the living room, and she knew he hadn't forgotten that she had snuck James up to her bedroom or that James had announced their intention to live together after school. When Lily turned to face James in front of the sofa, expecting him to still have that lighthearted, eager look about him and for him to badger her for the story of the time she had accidentally set the house _a little bit_ on fire, she was surprised to see concern in his eyes.

"You haven't told them?" James asked, leaning forward and bending over so that he could speak quietly enough that her parents wouldn't be able to hear if they were still listening in from the hallway. "Don't you think they ought to know?"

"That we're going to live together?" she whispered. "James, I didn't even know that. We've only talked about it once."

"Not that. You didn't even tell them you had a boyfriend until right before I got here." He rolled his eyes. "Our other… after graduation plans."

"What, that we're going to be unemployed volunteer soldiers fighting a war against horrible odds?" Lily frowned up at him when he took the book from her and set it aside on the coffee table. "It's a bit more complicated having to explain things to my Muggle parents than it is for you to explain to your parents who have known about all of the shit out there since before you were born."

She wanted to shield them from the worry, save them countless sleepless nights alone in this house while they wondered who or what was out there, imagined the horrors their youngest daughter might be facing, feared they may never see her again. If she could save them from that with a few little lies, then she would.

"You can't protect them from everything, Lily," James reminded her softly.

Sometimes, it scared her how well he knew her. She sighed and turned away from him to kneel on the floor in front of the spellbook on the table. "No, but I can shield their house."

When she shook her wand from her sleeve and made the pages of the book flutter open to the section on protective enchantments, James let the topic drop and sat himself on the edge of the sofa behind her, his long legs on either side of her body blocking her in as he read over her shoulder. After a few moments of silence broken only by the occasional rustle of turning pages, James waved his wand and a piece of parchment and her favourite self-inking quill flew down the stairs from her bedroom.

She pointed out a few spells that seemed promising and James diligently jotted them down in his frustratingly tidy scrawl.

"I haven't ever heard of this one," Lily said, pointing to a spot on the page. James set down the quill and slid off the couch to sit beside her and leaned in close over her shoulder to see what she was looking at.

"The _Fidelius_ Charm? It's really old magic," he told her, still staring down at the book. "One of the oldest known spells, even. Extremely powerful and almost impossible to cast. Only really talented Charms Masters can achieve it. Dumbledore, likely. Possibly Flitwick. An area – a home, usually – is completely concealed and the secret of its location is given to one person only, and that is the one person who can share the secret with others. Even once you've been let in on the secret by the Secret Keeper, you can't speak of it to anyone who doesn't know. It's beyond our skillset, I'm afraid, and it's a bit too comprehensive for our needs."

"You think my parents would be _too safe_?" Lily's eyebrows drew together as she stared at him.

James, recognizing the tone of voice that warned of approaching anger, looked up and rolled his eyes. "Calm down. I wasn't saying they don't deserve the best protective enchantments out there. It's just that _comprehensive_ and _best_ are not one and the same. No one would know your parents lived here. Anyone who hadn't been told the secret wouldn't even be able to see the house. Your parents couldn't be Secret Keepers because they're Muggles, so if we were able to pull off casting _Fidelius_ , you would probably want to be the Secret Keeper. They wouldn't be able to have guests over because you would have to meet them first and give them the secret and then they would watch a house seemingly materialize out of nowhere. It wouldn't be practical."

"Okay, okay, you're right. Sorry." Lily sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "I just … now that you've got the idea in my head … I really want to find _something_ I can do for them now."

"I know, and I think we have," James told her.

Lily lifted her head and squinted suspiciously at him. "Do you have another, better book of spells over there, Potter? We're supposed to be sharing."

"No, I don't." James laughed and shoved her hand away when she started to jokingly pat him down. He pointed down at the book they had been sharing. "Look on the next page. _Salvio Hexia_ and _Protego Totalum_."

Lily read the descriptions quickly. " _Salvio Hexia_ to protect against basic hexes. _Protego Totalum_ to create a protective shield around a dwelling. It's a good start."

Her parents wouldn't understand why they needed protection from magic, but she just wouldn't tell them exactly what they were being shielded from. Besides, for all they knew, she and James were only practicing for when they had their own place. She rolled her eyes at the thought and kept reading.

James jotted something down and she stared at him in horror.

" _Repello Muggletum_?" she questioned. "The _Fidelius_ Charm is too much, but a barrier to keep Muggles away from my Muggle parents' Muggle home in a Muggle neighbourhood? Really?"

He laughed and shook his head. "No, of course not. But we can use the spell as a sort of base idea. Perhaps not a barrier against Muggles, but against people with ill will? Something to play with."

"Can you do that?" She asked, cocking her head. "Can you change a spell?"

"Sure." James shrugged. "How do you think new spells are created? You just take the useful bits of other spells and take away what you don't need, add what you do, and there you have it. It will take time to craft this one into what we need because we would have to define exactly what ill will entails and what exactly would happen to anyone who fits the bill."

"You sound like you've done it before," Lily said suspiciously.

"You think it was easy making the Maruder's Map?" James said with a small laugh. "Took us a whole year to get the first draft and then there were constant alterations that had to be made, new enchantments we had to add, some of which didn't exist so we had to create them."

She looked at him for a moment, full of wonder. Here was this boy, this tall, beautiful, athletic, intelligent, funny, popular, well-liked boy, and he spent countless hours researching and inventing spells with his three best friends so they could create a map of a school they were unlikely to ever set foot in again after they graduated. They were all just a bunch of reckless swotty idiots.

When she didn't say anything, James looked over at her and seemed very much confused by the soft look on her face. She kissed him slowly, one hand on the rug to prop herself up, the other caressing the side of his face. When she opened her eyes, he had a goofy, somewhat dazed grin on his face.

"What was that for?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Because I love you."

And she did. She loved him so much it startled her sometimes. They were only seventeen, but she still felt as though she had wasted all this time not wanting to fancy him, wanting her wanker of a best friend to be worthy of her time, time she could have been spending with James, loving James. They had the rest of their lives together, though, she had to remind herself. Countless days of James being smarter than he had any right to be, of him knowing things she didn't have to say, of the warm, comfortable, dizzying feeling she got from just sitting next to him. Millions of kisses and hours, days, years, a lifetime of curling up against his long frame, his arms around her.

But it wasn't the time for such thoughts, so she slid her hand from his face and shifted her weight to lean into his side as she turned back to the book they were sharing. He swung his arm across her shoulders, pressed his lips to the side of her head, and they continued to read.

They worked in silence for quite a while and by the time they got through the entire section of the book that would be useful to them, they had pretended at least a dozen times not to notice her parents walking past the entryway. Lily flipped the book closed and sighed, rubbing her eyes. Next to her, James stretched dramatically, his back and neck arching, arms and legs splaying, and yawned loudly. She laughed when he suddenly jumped to standing, fully of energy, and held a hand down for her.

"Shall we?" he asked.

They would cast the spells that they didn't feel the need to change, they had decided, and take their time working on the others. Those enchantments wouldn't be ready to go until after graduation, they figured, but in the meantime it would give Lily some peace of mind to know that her parents were safer, at least, than most Muggles.

She swiped her wand from the table, took his hand, and let him pull her up. She led him to the door to the back garden, then paused, looking at him worriedly. "Do you think it's okay to do this? What if the Muggles see?"

"Muggles never notice magic," James said dismissively, and sighed when she shot him a disapproving look. "Have they ever noticed the Knight's Bus? The magic that they do see they always find a perfectly Muggle explanation for. The pyramids of Egypt? Stonehenge? All magic. If they see us out there casting protective enchantments, all they're going to see is a couple of teenagers walking circles around a house. If anything, they'll think we're looking to break in."

"Maybe if it was just you, but they won't think I'm breaking in to my own house," Lily said, but he had a point. Muggles did often explain away the unexplainable. Besides, it was growing dark out and it was a bitter cold evening and snow was beginning to fall again. No one would be outside anyway. She opened the door and led him outside.

"Here, why don't you go that way and I'll work my way this way," James suggested, and they began pacing away from each other.

" _Salvio Hexia. Protego Totalum. Protego Horibilis. Fianto Duri._ " With each step she took, she muttered another incantation and a quick, dull, shimmer of light appeared in front of her, the shield taking shape.

She reached the hedge at the side of the house, looked over her shoulder and saw that James was no longer in sight. He had either jumped the hedge or magicked his way through. She sighed, decided that there was no way she was risking jumping over the waist-high prickly hedge, and tapped it with the tip of her wand. It disappeared and she quickly stepped through, waving her wand over her shoulder so that it appeared again.

" _Salvio Hexia. Protego Totalum. Protego Horibilis. Fianto Duri_."

She met him at the front door. James, with his longer legs, had finished his half of the house first and waited for her there instead of continuing on and meeting her. It was a wise call on his part; she probably would have been disappointed to have taken less responsibility over her parents' safety than he had. It surprised her, protective as she was wont to be, that she wasn't dissatisfied with only having done half of the work. James was a brilliant wizard, after all, and she would be hard-pressed to think of someone she trusted more.

"I feel better now," Lily confided in him. "Now that I know they're fairly well protected."

"So do I," James told her, drawing her near to him. His concern, she knew, was mostly for her next week or so here, but she also knew that he was the type of person who would have been worried over her parents' safety even if she weren't there.

The door opened and light flooded them just as he leaned in to kiss her. Without pulling away from one another, they turned to look at her father, who blinked awkwardly out at them.

"Oh," he said. "There you are."

"We were just finishing up with our enchantments," James explained as he slid his hands from Lily's waist languidly and took a few steps back from their embrace.

"I see," Lily's father said and he seemed to contemplate something for a moment before he settled on his decision. "And do all enchantments end with a kiss?"

Lily laughed, pleased that her father actually seemed to be trying to make light of the situation. She wondered if James stating that they would be living together after Hogwarts had said something of his commitment to their relationship and had made her parents like him, or at least not think of him as some strange boy who was only after one thing.

"Only the best ones, sir." James said with an easy grin. Lily rolled her eyes and gave him a small sideways shove, but she knew her grin matched his when he slung his arm across her shoulders and pulled her closer.

It wasn't until she felt the warmth radiating off of him that she realized she was freezing her tits off. She had remembered her boots this time, but neither of them had bundled up nearly well enough, and it was only getting colder the later it got.

Her father seemed to realize this at the same time she did and gestured for them to come inside. Lily wrapped her hand around James's and dragged him inside behind her.

"Dinner's ready," her father mentioned as he closed the door behind them.

"Oh, is that why you were looking for us?" Lily asked mildly. She noticed her mother standing at the foot of the staircase, looking as though she had just come back down the stairs. Lily wondered if she had gone upstairs expecting to find James and Lily in her bedroom again.

"Yes, come along into the dining room," her mother said, gesturing awkwardly down the hall.

Lily paused briefly to kick off her boots, and then she and James followed her parents to the dining room. Her mother had plated everything on nice serving dishes: her corned beef, the delectable colcannon, a colourful fresh salad, and a pitcher of water. She sat down across the table from her father, and James took the seat next to her.

While her mother served up everyone's plates, something she did every time they had guests over, her father resumed asking James about Quidditch.

"Usually a match will last a couple hours," James told him with a shrug. "Course, there are the ones that take up the entire day. It's why we only play on weekends; it could take too long if we were to play after lessons. And then there are the rare quick games that only take a few minutes."

"A few minutes?" Her father asked, pausing a moment to thank his wife when she set a plate down in front of him. "How does that work?"

"The game always ends when the seeker catches the snitch," Lily said.

"So, if it's a slow snitch and a quick seeker, they could catch it in the first couple minutes," James added. "Doesn't happen often because you usually want to score as many points as possible before you end the match to rack up your points for the Quidditch cup. That and it's dead boring if it's over before it really begins."

He pulled a dreadful, tortured look, and Lily laughed at him, reaching over to pat his knee under the table. "I remember you nearly cried when Martin caught the snitch in the first five minutes of the game against Hufflepuff last year."

James threw his head back and groaned like he was having the life sucked out of him. "I _told_ him not to catch the snitch until we had a good lead over them." He leaned back when Lily's mother set an overflowing plate before him, smiled up at her. "Thank you."

"It's not like it affected our standings. Hufflepuff has never been an actual contender for the cup." Lily rolled her eyes when he stared at her in horror. "You're so dramatic. Thanks, Mum."

"I am not being dramatic," James insisted. "It wasn't about _Hufflepuff_. It was about getting more points on the leaderboard! We only went up by one-fifty when we could have gone up by at least three hundred and put a decent gap between Slytherin and us. Instead, we dropped below them and needed to wallop them in the final!"

"Which we did," Lily reminded him. "And won."

"Yes, but that's not the point!" James said, gesticulating wildly now as he was wont to do when he grew impassioned. "The point is that instead of focusing on catching the snitch in the final, Martin had to focus on stopping Regulus from catching the snitch _and_ keep track of the score so he didn't mess up and end the game before we had enough points to win the cup."

"But we did win the cup," Lily said.

"I know! But we could easily have won the game and still lost the cup and it would have been all Martin's fault."

"But we won both, James," Lily said.

James made a strangled sound in his throat and his shoulders hunched over as if he were in immeasurable pain. When he pressed his fingertips against his eyelids and knocked his glasses askew, Lily smirked. Across the table, her father looked on with amusement as her mother grew more and more confused.

"Love," James finally said in a strained voice. "I'm aware that you're actively trying to frustrate me, but it's working a little too well. Can you please stop?"

Lily laughed and reached over to pat his thigh. When she leaned into him and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, he gave her a warning look. _Not in front of your parents, you impossible girl_ , she practically heard him say.

"So sorry, dear," Lily said innocently, giving his leg another little taunting squeeze under the table before she pulled away and picked up her fork. "Let's dig in, yeah?"

"Yes, this looks amazing, thank you so much," James said, picking up his fork as well.

"You are very welcome," her mum said, looking delighted when James began eating with great enthusiasm.

For a while, there was little conversation besides small pleasantries. Then, when everyone had nearly cleared their plates, James spoke up again.

"Mr. and Mrs. Evans," he said, nudging Lily's foot under the table and sparing her a slight wink, "I would love it if you would tell me how Lily set the house on fire."

"You…!" Lily choked and kicked him in the shin.

"Ow!" he complained, reaching down to massage his leg.

"Lily!" her mother chided while her father tried to pretend he wasn't laughing.

"I _told_ _you_ I would tell you later!" Lily said, ignoring her parents as she glared at her boyfriend.

"You were never actually going to tell me, though! I know your tricks! You would only distract me every time I brought it up until I forgot all about it if I waited for you to tell me!" he accused. "You know plenty of my embarrassing moments! Hell, you've _witnessed_ most of them!"

"That is beside the point!" she protested. "I've never asked you to relive any of those moments!"

James scoffed and leveled an incredulous stare at her. "Are you going to look me in the eye and pretend that you didn't actively make fun of me for weeks after Peter's spell backfired in Transfiguration and I ended up completely bald for a few hours back in fourth year?"

Lily bit her lip, unsuccessfully trying to hide her giggle. She had in fact teased him horrendously for what was probably closer to a couple months, but she simply couldn't help herself. As much as she had tried to convince herself that his hair was stupid for years, she'd been forced to admit to herself even back then that he just wasn't Potter without the hair. She had taken perhaps a bit too much pleasure in those few hours he had looked truly awkward. Even now that she loved him, the memory still made her feel almost giddy.

"I was trying to levitate a pillow onto my bed. I was making my bed, you see, magically. My entire bed caught fire rather abruptly and when I tried to put it out it just spread even quicker," she said in a very quiet rush.

"Scared us half to death," her father added.

"Scared us even more when the Ministry fellow just appeared in the middle of her room and set it all to rights," her mother said.

"And then the fellow scared Lily to tears, saying that if she ever did magic outside of school again, she'd be expelled forever and have her wand snapped in half," her father said.

James was smirking when he turned to her, but he quickly adopted a more stoic expression when he saw the warning glare Lily was sending him. He cleared his throat and tried to cover the amused twitch of his lips by speaking.

"You know, they don't really do that," he said in what he clearly meant to be a conversational tone. In truth, his voice was a little on the high, tremulous side as he repressed laughter. "Expel you and snap your wand. Not unless you do something really awful like _purposely_ expose a bunch of unsuspecting muggles to magic. They just threaten muggleborns with it because you can't have a bunch of kids running around waving their wands all freely in the muggle world."

"I bet _you_ got to do magic all the time when you were away from school, even before you turned seventeen," Lily grumbled at him.

"I never said it was _fair_." He reached for her hand on the table, twined their fingers together and stroked his thumb along the back of her hand. "And I'm sure it was terrifying to be threatened that way your first summer back from school."

"Did you ever set anything on fire?" Mr. Evans asked, looking at James.

"Oh, loads of times," James said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"He means by accident," Lily told him.

"Oh, well. In that case…" There was an amused twinkle in his eyes when he winked at her. "Maybe once or twice."

Her parents looked a bit concerned at that – was the boy a pyromaniac? But Lily and James were exchanging very amused glances like it was nothing that he'd just casually admitted to starting fires on purpose. Perhaps it wasn't a big deal in their world.

Lily laughed quietly; she remembered many a time James and his friends had caused explosions and mild fires in classes as either pranks or distractions, but he hadn't done anything like that since fifth year. Besides, a small fire in the back of the Charms classroom was nothing for Professor Flitwick to fix.

Mrs. Evans stood and began to gather the dishes from the table. "I'll just clear this up before pudding, shall I?"

James stood quickly. "No, don't trouble yourself. I'll clear this up."

Mrs. Evans started to protest, but Lily shook her head with a small smile. "We'll take care of it, Mum."

James and Lily made quick work of cleaning up the dishes in the dining room, charming them into neat little stacks and sending them gliding gently through the air to the kitchen, where they charmed them to wash and dry themselves. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Evans served up four dishes of a scrumptious pudding, smiling softly as they listened to their daughter giggle as James struggled to make sense of the dish organization in the cabinets. If nothing else, at least they could see that the boy made Lily happy.

They came back in both glowing happily, James following closely behind Lily as if he couldn't bear to be more than a few inches from her. Not now that their time together tonight was drawing to a close. They both knew that after dessert came goodbye, and there was no guarantee yet that they would see each other again before they headed back to school.

Mrs. Evans sat a dish of pudding in front of Lily and a substantially larger serving in front of James as they took their seats again. It was all James could do to wait until Lily's parents both had their forks in hand before he dug in. He acted as if he'd never tasted anything so delightful in his life. If Lily didn't know that he ate just about every dessert with as much gusto, she might have thought he was just kissing up to her mother.

"A fan of a good pudding, eh?" Mr. Evans said with a slight chuckle.

James grinned unabashedly and nodded. As eagerly as he tended to devour his dessert, he never did so with a lack of basic table manners, so Lily's parents found his enthusiasm endearing rather than repulsive.

"James usually eats pretty healthy because of Quidditch," Lily told her parents. "But about once a week he'll lose control over a whole platter of treacle tarts."

"A whole platter?" Mrs. Evans said. "Shall I get you a second serving?"

"I really shouldn't, thanks." James grinned over his empty plate. "But you should see me in Honeydukes."

"The sweet shoppe in Hogsmeade," Lily explained when her parents looked intrigued. "I swear, he buys about a ton of sweets every time we go down there."

"And what is a magical sweet shoppe like?" Mr. Evans asked.

"Oh, Dad, don't get him started." Lily rolled her eyes good-naturedly even as James brought his finger to her lips and playfully shushed her.

"Mr. Evans, sir, you have never seen such wonder," James began before launching into a longwinded, incredibly detailed description of the inside of Honeydukes and all the sweets they offered there.

Lily watched him fondly for a moment before her mother caught her attention.

"Did Petunia tell you that she expects Vernon to propose soon?" her mother said quietly so as not to disturb the boys. Lily thought she probably could have shouted it and her father wouldn't have even blinked from James's compelling descriptions.

"Petunia doesn't tell me anything, Mum," Lily said with a small frown.

"She thinks he's doing it tonight," her mother continued in a tone that wasn't quite full of sarcasm, but was clearly forced enthusiasm.

"Well, isn't that brilliant," Lily said, and her tone was dripping in sarcasm. "Congratulations to the happy couple."

"Lily, she's your sister," her mother reprimanded softly.

"She's a mannerless, trifling hag," Lily grumbled, and crossed her arms over her chest as she settled deeper into her seat.

James, still waxing poetic about all of the sweets her father had never seen before, slid his hand over her thigh beneath the table, giving her leg a warm, comforting squeeze. His gaze briefly slanted toward her when her father asked him a clarifying question, and she leaned in closer to him. Her mother let the conversation drop, instead rising to carry the dirty dessert dishes to the kitchen.

"I should probably be going," James said when Mrs. Evans walked back into the room, a regretful note to his voice when he looked at Lily. It was difficult for him to not be able to see her everyday, to just walk down a flight of stairs and find her seated in front of a roaring fire, or to wake up in his four-poster and find her next to him, her brilliant hair fanning across his pillow and over his biceps.

She frowned at him, feeling rather sad to have to say goodnight to him herself. Lily missed walking down the long corridors with him at night, pulling each other into a broom cupboard and losing herself in him like they were supposed to be stopping other students from doing. She wished he didn't have to go, that he could stay here with her. As much as she loved her parents, it was dreadfully boring to be home sometimes, completely separated from all the magic she had grown accustomed to. That, and any world in which James Potter was not constantly accessible to her was plain miserable.

The four of them gathered in the foyer, much like they had when James had first arrived. Only, this time James was pulling on his coat instead of hanging it on the rack and Lily was frowning, on the verge of pouting, instead of beaming and vibrating with excitement.

"Oh, I nearly forgot. When I told my parents I would be meeting you, they got very excited and a bit jealous and made me promise to invite Lily over for dinner," James said very suddenly, turning to level a hopeful look on her parents. "Lily's told me that in the Evans household, Christmas holidays are traditionally spent just with the family, but they'd really love to meet her. If you want to, that is."

He looked at her with wide, inviting eyes, one eyebrow quirked questioningly. Her heart skipped a beat and it was all she could do to hide just how badly she wanted to snog him senseless.

"You mean before we go back to school?" she asked, and bit her lip to keep from betraying her mischievous smirk when he nodded. James's parents had left out of the country on business early that morning and wouldn't be back until the night before the Hogwarts Express left. "Yes, I would absolutely love to have dinner with your parents."

"Is that alright with you, Mr. and Mrs. Evans?" James asked, turning his innocent gaze back to them.

Her parents looked at one another and Lily rolled her eyes. James caught her eye and gave her a warning look – _don't mess this up, Evans._ Instead of sending him an apologetic look, she rolled her eyes again, more dramatically so that she almost gave herself a headache. Suppressed laughter twinkled in his gaze and they both turned back to her parents before they were caught having another silent conversation. She nearly laughed when instead she and James caught her parents doing the very same.

It was almost funny that they actually thought they had a say in the matter. Lily was going to this "dinner with James's parents" whether they thought it was a good idea or not. Not that she thought they would have a problem with it, really. They had, after all, just hosted a dinner for James and Lily was certain that they approved of him wholeheartedly.

"That would be fine," Mr. Evans said after a moment, his conversation with his wife ending so suddenly that even Lily was a bit taken-aback. He looked at James, who had schooled his face into that uncanny innocent expression once more. "When did they want to have her over?"

"Oh, they didn't specify a day," James said. "They're really not busy, though, so any day would work, I'm sure."

"Tomorrow?" Lily suggested, her eagerness hidden behind wide, innocent eyes and a soft, easy smile. James smirked somewhat proudly and more than a little smugly.

"You've got to give them time to prepare, love. I'm sure tomorrow is far too soon." Mrs. Evans issued her daughter a gentle reprimand, a reminder to be a courteous guest as well as a reminder that she hadn't given her parents enough time to prepare for James to come over, an issue James was not at fault for.

"Really, it's fine," James assured her. "If tomorrow works for you, it will work for my parents as well."

Lily wanted to throw her fists in the air and scream in triumph or maybe do a hearty little jig about the foyer when her parents relented.

"Well, if it's really okay with your parents…" Lily's mother said.

"It is," James cut in eagerly. Lily clenched her teeth in a concentrated effort not to smile at him, and they both avoided meeting her parents' gazes.

"Then, fine. Tomorrow is fine," Mrs. Evans finished.

"Brilliant!" Beaming, James turned to Lily. "I'll pick you up for five?"

She wanted to frown at him and demand he come for her earlier, but he'd said _dinner_ and if her parents weren't already suspicious they certainly would be if he offered to pick her up for dinner first thing in the morning. "That's perfect."

"Mum's going to be so excited." James's eyes twinkled with mischief as he gazed down at her before he forced himself to turn back to her parents. "It was a pleasure to meet you both. Thank you so much for having me over."

"It was lovely meeting you, James," Mrs. Evans said, charmed when he shook her hand warmly. "I hope you'll come for another visit before you go back to school."

"Oh, absolutely!" he said. "I'd love to!"

"Have a good night, James," Mr. Evans said, impressed by the firm handshake he received from the tall boy before him who was standing very close to his daughter. "Don't be a stranger."

"Thank you, sir. I'll bring some of the Fizzing Whizbees you were so curious about when I come for Lily tomorrow," James promised.

"Really? That would be fantastic!" Mr. Evans said enthusiastically.

For a moment, the four of them stood awkwardly in the foyer. Lily stared expectantly at her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Evans stared at James, and James pretended to study the wall clock over the coat rack. Mrs. Evans suddenly caught Lily's gaze – her eyes were steadily narrowing into a mild glare – and jolted in realization. She gripped her husband by the elbow and tugged him away.

"Come, dear, let's go straighten the dining room," she said in a much too chipper tone.

"We've already done that," Mr. Evans huffed, but allowed himself to be towed into the room.

James was already reaching for her, quietly chuckling, when Lily turned her body into him; he folded her into his arms, tightening his grip when he felt her rock up on the tips of her toes to press herself closer.

"You know, I actually would like to have dinner with your parents one day," she whispered into his ear.

"Yeah?" She felt his smirk against her neck. When he pulled away, his eyes were dancing with mirth. "Because you can't wait to have them tell you all my embarrassing stories you haven't witnessed first hand or because it's a big thing, meeting the parents?"

"Both," Lily said, and kissed him. Then, she laughed against his lips. "But mostly for the stories."

"I love you," he grinned and kissed her properly and they both were lightheaded and lighthearted and smiling when they pulled apart.

When he Disapparated with a loud crack right there in the foyer and she turned away still with that dreamy grin on her face, she didn't even notice her parents watching her glide her way to the stairs from the door to the living room, practically floating on that familiar weightless feeling he always brought to her life.

Mrs. Evans turned to her husband with an elated smile when Lily called a distracted _good night_ over her shoulder from halfway up the stairs. "Our little girl's in love."

"Bloody wonderful," Mr. Evans grumbled, but he knew his wife wasn't fooled; in fact, her smile only widened.

That James Potter was a good boy, and it was clear their daughter wasn't the only one in love there. The way he'd hardly been able to take his eyes off her even when he'd been so patiently and masterfully explaining the details of Quidditch and magic sweets to him it was clear that none of the other great passions in his life even held a candle to Lily.

Mrs. Evans twirled away from him and into the kitchen to fix a cuppa, humming happily for their younger daughter. When he sat back down in his favoured blue recliner to wait for her, he was smiling too as he thought of the besotted expression on his not-so-little-anymore girl's face.

 _Well_ , he thought, _she certainly picks them better than Petunia._

**Author's Note:**

> YOU GUYS.
> 
> It has been SO LONG since I have written any new Jily content! I started working on this maybe five years ago? And then I kept stepping away from it to work on other projects, but this one was always one that I kept coming back to because there's just something about it… I honestly can't say what it is, but this one has been a labor of love for me.
> 
> I just hope that y'all are pleased with this one because I have another oneshot that's been in progress for quite a few years that I'm dying to finish and post as well, and it's one that's a bit more plot-driven than this one, slightly angsty with a sweet satisfying finish. I hope I can finish it and get it posted soon because I think that iteration of Jily is honestly my favorite I've ever written.
> 
> Anyway. Let me know what you think of this monster oneshot! I do realize that it's light on plot, but it's pretty heavy on Jily fluffy cuteness, and that's something that I really just love writing lol.
> 
> Also, I edited this very quickly because it is very late and I was too eager to post this to wait until tomorrow!


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